House votes to replace ’No Child’ education law WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans voted Friday to dismantle the troubled No Child Left Behind law for evaluating America’s students and schools, saying states and local school districts rather than Washington should be setting rules for ensuring that kids are getting good educations. The legislation would eliminate federally required testing of students, which has been controversial from the start. But the measure passed with no Democratic s...

Residents worry if bankruptcy will better Detroit DETROIT (AP) — In Detroit, it can take police nearly an hour to respond to a 911 call. Despite razing close to 10,000 vacant houses, three times as many still stand with windows smashed and doors ripped off. At night, many streets and even freeways are dangerously shrouded in darkness because tens of thousands of street lights don’t work. This is Detroit, an insolvent city seeking to find its way through the uncertainty of the largest city in ...

Boston mobster pins a string of killings on Bulger BOSTON (AP) — A feared gangster known as “The Rifleman” detailed for a jury Friday a grisly string of nine murders he says reputed Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger ordered, approved or committed with his own hands, including the strangling of the witness’ own girlfriend. Stephen Flemmi said he set his girlfriend’s killing in motion when he blurted out to her something he shouldn’t have: that he and Bulger were FBI informants. Bulger dec...

DOE study: Fracking chemicals didn’t taint water PITTSBURGH (AP) — A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press. After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet ...

Deadly derailment won’t stop oil on trains NEW YORK (AP) — A fiery and fatal train derailment earlier this month in Quebec, near the Maine border, highlighted the danger of moving oil by rail, a practice that has grown exponentially as a result of the oil boom and will continue to expand, experts say. This year, more trains carrying crude will chug across North America than ever before — nearly 1,400 carloads a day. In 2009, there were just 31 carloads a day. U.S. and Canadian drillers...

Fired trooper accused in drug evidence theft LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A former Arkansas State Police lieutenant arrested on federal drug charges is accused of stealing drugs from the agency’s evidence room. Court documents released Friday allege that Sedrick Reed had been stealing “large quantities of cocaine” from the evidence vault at state police headquarters in Little Rock. A probable cause affidavit says investigators worked with a confidential informant and tapped Reed’s phone to build a...

Cops: 4 men found held in ’deplorable’ Texas home HOUSTON (AP) — Four men found living in “deplorable conditions” in a Houston garage on Friday told police that they were being held captive after being lured by promises of food and cigarettes so that their captor could cash their public-assistance checks, authorities said. Three of the men were malnourished and taken to a hospital after being discovered by officers responding to a 911 call about the home, Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva...

Internet shows its muscle by making Emmy history LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Emmy Awards are television’s biggest celebration of itself, but this year’s ceremony will face an intruder: “House of Cards,” the first online series to nab a top nomination with its best drama series. Netflix’s triumph on Thursday, which includes nods for its revival of “Arrested Development,” is putting a further squeeze on the broadcast networks that already have lost substantial Emmy ground to cable. New network offe...

Senators ready to restore lower college loan rates WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan compromise on student loans promises better deals for students and parents over the next few years but could spell higher rates as the economy improves. The Senate deal pegs the interest rates on new loans to the financial markets and was expected to come to a vote next week, well before students returning to campus this fall have to sign their loan agreements. Under the deal, undergraduates this fall could borro...

Reputed Boston crime boss faces once-loyal crony BOSTON (AP) — His hands on his hips in a you-want-a-piece-of-me stance, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi glared at James “Whitey” Bulger in the courtroom, and the two men snarled what sounded like obscenities at each other. Bulger and his once-loyal comrade came face to face Thursday for the first time in nearly two decades as Flemmi testified against the reputed Boston crime boss at Bulger’s racketeering trial. In his brief 15 minutes or so on t...

Sen. McCain plans to stall Dempsey’s nomination WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain said Thursday he will block Army Gen. Martin Dempsey’s nomination for a second term as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman due to his dissatisfaction with the officer’s responses to questions about the potential use of U.S. military power in Syria. McCain, R-Ariz., pressed Dempsey during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee to provide his personal opinion on which approach in Syria c...

S. Calif. fire forces evacuation of mountain town IDYLLWILD, Calif. (AP) — Artist Lewis Millett didn’t need much more than an order to leave his longtime Idyllwild mountain home after seeing 100 foot flames marching toward the mile-high hamlet that draws tourists, summer campers and students to a year-round arts and music school. Millet and his wife scooped up the precious things that matter most from their three-story Southern California home: their two cats, his paintings and sculptures and...

IRS watchdog ’disturbed’ agency withheld documents WASHINGTON (AP) — The investigator who wrote a scathing report about the Internal Revenue Service targeting tea party groups says he is “disturbed” the agency withheld newly released documents showing progressive groups may also have been singled out for additional scrutiny. IRS Inspector General J. Russell George told a congressional panel Thursday the IRS did not provide the documents to his office during a yearlong audit. George said he jus...

Dell delays buyout vote, signaling lack of support ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) — Michael Dell believes he can revive the company bearing his name if his group of investors can buy it for $24.4 billion. But that deal is in danger of falling apart, increasing the chances that the personal computer giant’s founder might not be CEO much longer. The formidable challenges already facing Dell Inc. and its CEO got more daunting Thursday with the slumping company’s decision to delay a vote on Michael Dell’s...

Political indecision weighs on economic forecasts WASHINGTON (AP) — Politicians and economists are straining to get a clearer view of what the economy will look like a year from now, when midterm political campaigns are heating up. Republicans see the glass as half empty; Democrats view it as half full. And the economists aren’t sure. “Our economy is recovering at the slowest rate since World War II,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, lamented to a group of manufacturers. “Quarter after qua...

Once-mighty Motor City files for bankruptcy DETROIT (AP) — Once the very symbol of American industrial might, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy Thursday, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing. The filing, which had been feared for months, put the city on an uncertain course that could mean laying off municipal employees, selling off assets, raising fees and scaling back basic service...

Suspect in drag racing deaths on bail in US case PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man who allegedly struck and killed a Philadelphia woman and her three sons while drag racing in Philadelphia had been out on bail this year in a $3.6 million ambulance fraud case. Khusen Akhmedov, 23, had also racked up four speeding tickets since 2009 and a charge of driving on a suspended license. He paid just a few hundred dollars to settle three of the speeding tickets, and was due in court on the other one next mont...

Barbie fights for her life NEW YORK (AP) — As far as catfights go, this is a doozy. Barbie, long the reigning queen in the doll world, has suddenly been thrust into the battle of her life. But Barbie’s competitors look nothing like the blue-eyed, blond-haired, long-legged fashion icon. And they don’t have the same old standards of beauty as the aging diva either. Monster High dolls, vampy teens that are patterned after the offspring of monsters like Dracula and Frankens...

Trayvon Martin’s parents shocked by verdict MIAMI (AP) — Trayvon Martin’s parents made appearances on network morning shows Thursday, saying they are still shocked that jurors acquitted George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting death of their 17-year-old son. On NBC’s “Today” show, Sybrina Fulton questioned whether jurors looked at the shooting from her son’s point of view. “He was a teenager. He was scared. He did run,” Fulton said, who added that she believes the justice system failed her...

Perry signs sweeping Texas abortion restrictions AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed sweeping new abortion restrictions on Thursday that could shutter most of the state’s clinics that provide the procedure, a final step for the Republican-backed measure after weeks of sometimes raucous protests at the state Capitol. Supporters credited God’s will and prayer as the governor signed the legislation, with protesters’ chants of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” echoing from the hallway. Oppone...